Chaos Rising
by Hrosanna
Summary: JENOVA and WEAPON, two primeval forces that should never coexist in a single body. The early awakening of Chaos and her subsequent involvement with SHINRA and the JENOVA Project begins a sequence of events that will turn the world on its head.
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING!**

Before you begin reading this fanfiction, let me warn you that it will be **AU** on a massive scale. It will follow the same general timeline as FFVII (hopefully), but **completely bludgeon most details and explanations given by the original storyline about most things into oblivion **and then some, especially regarding the WEAPONS and JENOVA. This is also one of my first works, and I apologise if things are OOC.

**Disclaimer**: _I do not own FFVII or any other affiliated subjects, characters or terminology that may or may not appear within this work of fiction. All I own is a Vincent Valentine plushie, this version of Chaos and a copy of the Advent Children DVD._

**Prologue**

_What?_

_Who?_

_I feel. . . ._

_Who are you? _

_Why are you here? _

_What are you anyway?_

_Human . . . . . _

_Still, I think I'd like to meet you_

_Come on,_

_It's not far._

_Please_

_I don't like being lonely. . . . ._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

A dark haired human, cloak billowing behind him, proceeded cautiously down into the depths of the earth. His progress was slow, for he was wary of what he would find when he finally reached the heart of the Crystal Caves. He had spent several months, closer to a year really, slipping away from his team that was beginning research on the preserved Cetra specimen, JENOVA, in the state-of-the–art laboratory beneath the Shinra Manor. Well, allegedly Cetra anyway; he knew that Gast at least had his suspicions as to the nature of their subject. Even before his initial forays into the tunnels began, he had spent even longer discreetly uncovering information that could be relevant to his 'Chaos Theory'.

The man had considered many different paths that he could take to further his research, but the only consistent links that he had found were several centuries old at best. In order to gain recognition and funding for continued research, he had finally decided to personally investigate places that were likely to hold more information on the Planet- born entities known as WEAPON. The mythology that surrounded the Cetra was regularly interspersed with vaguely ominous warnings regarding them, and the scientist was decidedly curious to see if they had any basis in fact.

An especially curious subject was the legend of the mysterious Chaos, a being that was referenced to only once in any of the Cetran artefacts that had been recovered over the years. Chaos was also the only one of the WEAPONS that was capable of summoning the WEAPON OMEGA; or at least according to the records.

He paused for a moment, bending to run a gloved finger over the lichen encrusted walls, tracing water- worn shapes that were once carved deep in to the slippery stone. Immediately he began to carelessly scour the waterlogged plant matter away from the engraved rock

The man's breath was a glacial cloud at this point, rushing out of his throat in a wordless exclamation of sheer delight; he wanted to believe, at that point, that he was most certainly on the right track. The Cetran writing, worn down over the centuries by the passage of both time and liquid over its edges, was barely legible even without the damage wrought by the removal of the matted, wall- dwelling vegetation that had only recently been removed. However, the man knew immediately what was inscribed upon the wall, having worked extensively with the style of writing; no, the exact stoneworker's style, before.

"Soul wrought of terra corrupt,

Quelling impurity,

Purging the stream,

To beckon forth the ultimate fate.

Behold mighty Chaos,

Omega's squire to the lofty heavens'

'The exact same passage that was inscribed on the tablet uncovered during the Northern Crater's excavation project,' he whispered, 'this has to mean something! Why would something as elaborate as this would be placed in an area where no- one would access. I wonder what exactly is in here; could it be that all my research and travelling hasn't been in vain? I almost don't dare to hope. . ."

He swiftly removed his modified PHS from a pocket sewn deep inside the inner lining of his heavy, black greatcoat. With trembling fingers, he turned it on and opened the lid, flicking almost frantically through settings until he reached the camera application. Bracing himself on one knee, he began to take pictures of the writing from several angles and utilising the full range of features offered on a Shinra scientist's modified PHS. Thermal, a modified version of an MRI and a few other scans and recordings were taken in the short period of time.

Practically buzzing with excitement, Valentine absent-mindedly pushed himself to his feet only to be hit with an almost debilitating wave of nausea. He staggered backwards and his head span, darkening vision spangled with ghostly, gyrating stars.

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_Almost there;_

_Just a little further!_

_I can't wait to meet you in person_

_It's been so lonely here_

_Lonely. . . . . ._

_For so long. . . ._

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'Wha?' he thought in a dazed haze, hurling himself blindly in the general direction of the wall in an effort to steady himself. Catching hold with his free hand, he hunched down and took several deep breaths of air in an effort to stabilise himself. Behind closed eyes, the flashes of colour slowly faded as his heartbeat slowed from its earlier frantic pace.

As soon as the scientist was satisfied that he could again stand without aid, Grimoire proceeded to activate a two- part atmospheric and environmental test on his PHS. Calibrated to scan the surrounding area to the user, the examination would show the level of mako taint in both the air and stone surrounding him. Satisfied that there was no immediate danger, he snapped the device closed but warily stowed it in an easier to reach, outside pocket.

Brushing rock dust off his gloved hands, the man continued onwards with renewed vigour, taking great strides down the material-encrusted tunnel, heading deeper into the earth. He was practically bursting with the desire to reach the core of the caves, to most likely be the first in at least two thousand years to see whatever marvels lied within the ground. With that giddy thought, he temporarily threw caution to the wind and began to sprint down the passage, mindless of the strange, blue mako that splashed around his feet and soaked the hem of his leather cloak and any other garments unlucky enough to get caught in the spray.

Still filled with an inexplicable restlessness; icy breath- clouds bursting from his chest, he failed to register soft, delighted laughter that crooned along the edge of his consciousness and echoed through his mind. He did, however, feel an odd, almost eerie chill that rippled across his skin like spreading frost.

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_Come _

_Come_

_Come Come Come_

_Comecomecomecometometome__**cometome**_

_Please. . . . ._

_So lonely._

_I want. . . . . . . . . . ._

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No knowing of the keen, phantasmal eyes that tracked his every movement, the man slowed further and prepared to record his most recent findings on his PHS.

"This is the research journal of Doctor Grimoire Valentine. It is the ninth month since I have begun exploring the network of tunnels beneath the mountains. My recent discovery of an almost identical section of writing to that found on the Ancient Tablet has lead me to believe that I am getting closer to the 'core' if you will, of this subterranean structure. The stone formations, characterised by a multitude of different materia crystals in the walls, show many similarities to the stone- work found in the temple excavated within the Northern Crater, "he took a deep breath and steadied himself to continue.

"Also, I have dated and scanned the symbols as well as I can with my limited resources, and have determined that the style of carving is all but identical in decorative formation of the individual glyphs and prose. This leads me to believe that both were created in the same period of time; nay, by the same person! It is also possible that information regarding JENOVA could be stored here, as she was unearthed in a place with identical carvings to the newly dubbed 'Crystal Cave'. I. . . . ."

At that, Grimoire closed the recording device and squinted, peering ahead into the darkness. All of a sudden he felt strange, drawn inexorably forwards by a force he didn't understand. It was like someone was calling him, a siren song that snared his will and left him all but powerless; a puppet drawn forth by psychic threads. Continuing forwards, he walked down the rough pathway, quickly losing all regard to the things that were taking place around him.

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_Come_

_Come to me_

_Human/ mortal/ beast/ man/ boy_

_Not alone_

_Never again._

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With every step, the air grew colder and it became harder to breathe, until every inhalation would have made the lungs of any living creature ache with strain. Fragile lacings of frost began to form, trailing over the stone in elegant yet erratic patterning that thickened within seconds of formation. Fog coalesced and danced in faint breezes that found themselves freed from the depths of the earth. However, Valentine was numb; his mind operating only on the most basic levels that were necessary for human life as he followed the hypnotic call. His entire being was obsessively fixated on following the call that had entranced him so thoroughly.

Many hours passed in this way, and not once did he slow or stop to rest. He rejected even these things in his obsessive desire to follow the summons that sang so prettily through his soul. It twisted into and entranced him; hair- thin silver wires strung with tiny filigreed bells and fragments of diamond, wrapping an elegant yet steel- strong net around his will.

Grimoire walked, silently and calmly, into the blackness that was in front of him. He didn't slip or lose his footing as he padded forwards and followed the path down a bend in the tunnel. Several minutes were spent in that black, cramped space with no room to manoeuvre; only for him to fall on his rear and slide forwards down a slimy rock face to emerge into a cavern filled with icy blue-white light.

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_Here._

_You are with me now_

_Almost to me_

_Almost time_

_To see/hear/ touch/ taste/ scent _

_Guardian/ Lady/ Mother/ Gaia and all that she is/ was/ could be_

_Come_

_Let me know the world before the End_

_Let me be free_

_Grant me this at least. . . . . ._


	3. Chapter 3

Aaaggghhhh, so sorry about the wait! Exams and a beta reading gig got the best of me; sorry!

Chapter 2

Dr Valentine stood, wobbling slightly as he regained himself from the force that had taken him and surrounded by crystallised mako. Long, elegant rapiers of coldly burning materia lanced from the floor of the room, crisscrossing one another like a forest of gleaming glass. A rough path of dull, grey stone lay beneath his feet, meandering lazily off in to the distance, towards a glacial pillar of transparent, crystallised Lifestream that. It arced towards the ceiling and demanding the attention of all who entered the cavern with its frigid corona of light.

Valentine drew in an awestruck breath and quickly released an icy plume that dissipated into the air; nothing had prepared him for a sight of such wonder. Running a tentative hand over the cool stone that fringed the pathway, he was shocked to note that the light emanating from it seemed to brighten subtly and swirl like fog within its confines at his gentle touch.

"How. . . ?' he whispered in the utmost shock, "Did something like this go unnoticed for over two thousand years? Even if the locals from the area didn't find it, any place with this much mako concentrated in it should have shown up on Shinra's scans when they first decided to mine these mountains. For goodness' sake we built a mako reactor not a few hour's drive from here!"

Grimoire knelt down at the very edge of the stone pathway and continued to run wary fingers over and through the crystals closest to him. He removed a glove and tentatively scraped at one with a well- manicured nail. After photographing the materia with his PHS, he finally began to tap at the base of one of the more slender stalks. Quickly growing more confident, he began to deliver more punishing hits on to a targeted stem with the intent of removing it to scan and study more closely.

At than, the stones in his immediate vicinity began to burn with such intensity that Valentine immediately stood and began to back away in fear. To his awe, the air seemed to be growing colder, which could only mean. . .

"It's activating, the material is actually activating without human stimulus! That shouldn't even be possible; all of the tests of the Science Department have shown that material needs the will of a living, semi- intelligent being to activate and manipulate its power. Dear Gaia, what is going on with this place!"

Shivering with the sudden drop in temperature and just barely tamping down a bout of panic, the man stood and began to breathe deeply to try and regain at least some control over his thundering heart rate. At that, Grimoire promptly decided that tampering with the area was an unwise idea.

'Right,' he decided, 'this isn't worth it. I can always return when I've had a chance to run more tests to try and figure this place out.'

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_No_

_No. . ._

_NO! _

_You can't LEAVE_

_I can't_

_Won't_

_Be buried any longer!_

_Not again!_

_Because_

_I _

_Am _

_Not_

_Dead._

_Help Me._

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However, as the doctor turned and began his hurried retreat from the cavern, he was yet again manipulated. A splitting pain shredded the inside of his skull, and clumsy legs moved contrary to human will. Valentine's body stumbled as he was spun around, newly ungainly limbs throwing themselves out in an effort to protect the vulnerable flesh of his face. Falling forwards, the other withdrew momentarily as splintered shards of materia mangled his hands and forearms even through his leather gloves. However, his reprieve was only short- lived, as the invading entity returned to commandeer his limbs for the third and final time.

Unlike the other two times, he could feel it entering his skull and was horrified to be all too aware of the other making its way into his mind. 'No,' he screamed within himself, begging that it would hear and understand.

'NO!'

For a moment he felt it see him, if only for a moment, and allowed a tiny flicker of hope to make a home within his heart. Until it turned and settled within the fore of his awareness, and Grimoire was crushed beneath its bulk, an unseeing, unwilling passenger in his own body.

It was only when, the pillar only meters away, he slipped down yet again that Grimoire was finally returned to the forefront of his mind. His mouth was invaded by the opalescent, blue liquid; and his bloody hands felt as if they had been flayed and soaked in hydrogen peroxide as a result of the tainted mako's corrosive effects. Panicking, thrashed about until he finally surfaced, hurling his upper torso onto the shore and dry-retching among the crystal as his body tried its utmost to purge the poisonous liquid from his system. The doctor dug his fingers into the dirt and slowly, laboriously, heaved his entire body out of the poisonous lake. He huddled under his soaking, sodden cape, gasping for air, and tried to get his body under control.

_Please don't do this_

He stiffened; quite believing in what he had heard. He could have sworn that he heard someone speaking to him, a soft, vaguely feminine tone that would have been quite attractive under any other circumstances. He didn't want to believe though; didn't want to face a reality in which he had been _possessed_ and pulled on only to be discarded on a whim like an old shirt.

'There is,' he shakily concluded, 'nothing to be afraid of. It's obviously time for me to leave

_I'm really sorry about this_

Please no. . . .!

_But I'm afraid that I can't let you leave_

'Nothing here, nothing here, everything is fine. . . .'

_Silly human_

'But,' he concluded mentally with an exhausted sigh, 'I could be wrong about that; probably am wrong when I think about it.

Who am I kidding; I'm screwed beyond all reason'

Valentine drew back even further when he sensed an odd coldness brush lightly through his skull. It was different to the earlier vicious attacks. It felt, to him, something like a soft, purring buzz that was oddly similar to how cold velvet would feel.

_I really am sorry about this you know. . . . ._

He groped around inside his pockets at this, because he was sure by this point that he wasn't dreaming. Something was in the caves, something he couldn't see or sense beyond an oddly attractive psychic voice and velveteen touches to the inside of his skull. A psionic touch that disturbed the man far more than a living, breathing monster ever could, not in the least because all his instincts were practically screeching at him to _**run, run away goddamnit **_or _**kill it, kill it, KILL IT! **_Or maybe the most prevalent, base urge, which cried to him to just _**lay down, bare your throat and submitsubmitsubmit.**_

_Shhhhhhhh, It'll be ok in the end._

Grimoire barely registered the pealing tones of shattering materia and a high shriek of pressurised air escaping confinement before he rocketed violently into the wall of the cave and descended into oblivion with a final thought

_It's just my bloody luck isn't it. . ._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Grimoire Valentine lay sprawled and shivering on the ground, skin pale and drenched in sweat. His eyelids fluttered fitfully and his face was locked into a pained grimace as he muttered illegible worlds in his delirium. The air was growing colder by the minute and the erratic convulsions made by his body slowly began to cease as he began to freeze. However, in his dreams, he was slowly being burnt alive.

_Burning; everything was on fire. Land that was once rich and fertile had been scorched barren by the mercurial flames summoned by the monster that had fallen to earth. Even though the firestorm that had occurred was long since over, the conflagration that signified her displeasure with the Cetra's actions still burned on the barren ground. _

'What is this; am I. . . dreaming? But why of this; what in the world could have created such carnage singlehandedly? What are you, why are you showing me this; talk to me !'

'_In the beginning, a lot of people thought her to be an angel, or maybe some sort of celestial goddess come to bless the denizens of the Planet with her divine power. They were wrong; she was the opposite. They almost discovered the truth too late.'_

'Is the discovery of this so- called "truth" that you speak of the reason for her sudden aggression?

'_S'not very nice of you to talk to people like that; I really don't like it.'_

'It's easy for you to say; you should probably take your own advice!'

'_Do you really want to go there? And I'd still like that apology thank you very much.' _

'I. . . . apologise'

'_It's ok. The thing who was dubbed 'The Calamity from the Stars' by the Ancients came to this world to destroy it, like she has done to so many others. She would suck them dry of all energy and utilise the shrivelled husk to travel to a new world where the cycle would begin anew. This was done by infecting living subjects with her cells and manipulating them into spreading her filth further afield, much like a disease. In a way, that's kinda what she is. A sentient virus that is capable of influencing every one of her cells to such an extent that she was considered to be nearly unstoppable._

_However, the Ancients of the time managed to contain her by slaughtering every infected being and, by manipulating the Lifestream to an extent that is impossible today, managed to contain the central 'mind' within the body of one of their possessed kin. This was then encased within a compound of raw Lifestream and magic that made it impossible of her to force cells outside of her container. She was then buried inside the crater that signified her arrival onto this world; the place that you know as. . . .'_

'The Northern Crater? Then that means that . . . JENOVA?'

'_Bingo; we have a winner!' _

'What are you, and more importantly, how do you know of this catastrophe?'

'_It's kind of sad that you haven't even figured that out yet. I suppose you don't really know all that much about us though, let alone me. After all, I guess we weren't really around for all that long before we got put to sleep.' _

'Chaos?'

'_Heeee; try opening your eyes now. You'll see.'_

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With those words, Valentine was flung back into his mangled body, feeling completely overwhelmed with the sudden influx of information that crashed into his waking mind.

"Chaos. . . . So the legends were true after all,' he whispered to himself, 'I. . . .!'

Before he got the chance to complete his whispered sentence, thin, insubstantial hands made their way around his armpits and yanked him almost casually into the air. Sopping wet, blood running down his face from a fresh, deep injury that belched a deluge of blood and possessing multiple broken bones and other injuries of varied importance, Grimoire was in no condition to put up a fight against the impossible strength of the WEAPON.

Through half- closed eyes, Valentine focused on the being that was forming from the roiling vapour that flooded the cave. Through the mist, he could just make out the shape of a beautiful young woman. Long, storm- dark hair billowed around her, twisting around a slender body and fine, porcelain limbs. Aristocratic cheekbones and a fine nose cemented the image of a proud demeanour, while large, almost feral crimson eyes with slitted pupils leant a hint of unsettling savagery to otherwise doll- like features.

He found himself quickly deposited inside the shattered column, settled almost gently in a shallow pool of mako. Propped up against the frosted wall of the broken prison, the broken- bodied man was all but completely incapable of moving from shock.

'My left shoulder is broken, likely shattered from the explosion,' he thought vaguely, 'along with several of my ribs and most likely my hip as well. All that, not even taking onto account that I'm probably bleeding exponentially on the inside, means that I probably won't survive more than a few hours. I really wouldn't be surprised if there was something wrong with my skull as well . . .'

Smiling vaguely, he let out a breathless giggle.

'But what a way to go.'

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She floated silently over the icy mako that had once been the basis of her prison. With her chosen body growing more corporeal by the second, she had several choices to make and not much time to make them. However, the most pressing was the issue that came of ensuring her continued freedom from the Crystal Cavern. Like her siblings, she required energy in order to exist. It was exuded by all living beings and was generally easier than breathing to collect. However, the caves contained no beings that were suitable for feeding off, she had none of the reserves that she had before her coma and would soon return to dormancy if she didn't nourish herself very soon.

Thus, her predicament. On one hand, the human male (_Grimoire Valentine, she reminded herself; they have names now, like the Cetra)_ that freed her would provide a convenient source of nourishment and sustain her for some time, by when she should have long ago left the caves behind and reached the outside where she could absorb ambient energy from the world and skim it off living beings at her leisure. On the other hand, because of the scientist's deteriorating condition, he wouldn't survive the procedure. His close proximity when she burst free- and she hadn't expected the explosion to hurt him so much _at all_; the only thing she wanted to do was snack on him a little, not _kill_ him- injured him to such an extent that he had little to no energy left.

Extraction wasn't taxing to a healthy subject, but one who was this injured and losing energy at such an alarming rate was another matter completely. Chaos knew that she might, _might_, have enough strength to last until she exited the caves, but without the nourishment she was expecting from the man, her escape plan was very unlikely to succeed and she would just be sealed again.

"Do it."

Spinning around in shock, her crimson eyes came to rest on the dark haired human who had spoken and answered her thoughts. 'Oh,' she realised, 'I was speaking aloud then?'

With a faint flush of embarrassment garnishing her pale cheeks, the almost corporeal WEAPON knelt and leant forwards, causing her plain cotton dress to shift smoothly as it creased around her limbs, and hesitantly cupped the man's cooling cheek with soft, humanoid hands. His eyes were calm and his muscles slack in the face of his impending demise and he allowed a crooked little smile to show through his calm face.

"I'm dying, you know it and I know it. It would be useless, not to mention selfish of me to refuse you the rest of my strength. I'm under no illusions that you couldn't take my 'energy' easily, so just get on with it and let me die in peace," he let out a little huff of air at that, "Certainly an interesting way to go, by any means."

He began to cough then, great gravel- throated spasms that brought blood up through his throat and spread over his face and chest in a gory spray of crimson. Chaos' face softened and her slitted eyes turned tender as she gently wiped the spattering of blood off of his face. She could tell that the human male was delirious, and would probably never have said this if he was in his right mind, but made her decision easily nevertheless.

"If that is what you wish."

With that, she raised her lips to his and brought his feeble body towards hers in an almost tender embrace. Heat infused her limbs and body, spreading and chasing away the hunger- pains from her years of forced starvation. As she drew back, his heart stopped but she kept the man who returned her life and freedom in her arms until his broken corpse was recalled to the Lifestream. Gathering the dark cloak that he left behind around her body, she let out a soft, mournful sigh.

Chaos leant forwards and placed a hand on the place where Grimoire's remains had returned to the Lifestream

"Grimoire Valentine," she whispered as she stood, allowing the scientist's memories to wash over her. "I thank you for your sacrifice; though you didn't feel you had a choice. For that, I will always remember you."

Chaos turned then, and exited the cavern, eager to see the world again and discover what had happened in the two thousand years of her enforced coma.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Retracing a person's steps, Chaos decided very early on, was not fun in the slightest. Following vaguely defined footsteps that were imprinted on the lichen- covered stone was difficult for her, not in the least because she never felt the need to learn how to track, but also because of the troublesome limitations of her currently unenhanced form. Due to her completely drained energy stores, which normally held an almost limitless reservoir of gathered strength, the WEAPON had to rely on the energy received from the recently deceased Grimoire Valentine. This, however, needed to be conserved for important things like protection and actual survival. That meant no shape changing, elemental manipulation or any other tricks that would make finding a way out of the stupid caves easier. Even the most basic of her magic would use energy that she really didn't have to spare at that point.

With a sigh, Chaos tightened her grip on the black leather cloak that lay in thick folds around her shoulders. The waterproofed material was really quite comfortable, and she was grateful to the doctor for leaving it behind when he returned to the Lifestream. To make it even better, the wool- lined leather was warm on her freezing skin, though it didn't keep all of the chill out.

"Stupid Cetra,' the immortal muttered in disgust, 'the coldest place in the world, and they decide to stick me here. Why the Nibel mountains, of all places? Why not the Gongaga Area or maybe somewhere in the desert near- what's it name- Corel? Both of them are nice, warm places that don't have anything to do with snow or ice or coldness in general!'

Chaos spent the next several hours stomping carelessly and noisily down the stone pathways, muttering irritably to herself the entire time. Arms pulled close to her chest and lower lip turned into an elegant pout, she bore a marked resemblance to an offended child.

_Skreeekkkk_

In that moment, the earth began to shudder, convulsing as if it was in its final death throes.

Chaos froze for a moment, eyes widening, and began to pad warily forwards again. Scant seconds after she began to move, the ceiling of the tunnel began to release cataracts of rough, grey dust. Seeing that, she started jogging forward, but wad quickly assailed by rocks of varying sizes. Speeding up, she began to sprint, her only goal to get out of the death- trap before she got smooshed like cockroaches under a swatter. The immortal didn't quite fancy becoming a Chaos pancake, regenerating that sort of damage to a corporeal body was bloody painful; and liked the idea of being forced asleep again even less.

Sparing a glance backwards, she was absolutely horrified to see that the rocks were rapidly growing in size; from pebbles that wouldn't do any lasting damage (hopefully) to basketball- sized missiles that threatened to brain anyone unfortunate enough to be situated beneath the deadly hail of stone.

Yet again increasing her already substantial pace, Chaos continued down the passage, leaping madly over pebbles and other pieces of rock that were already in her way with a wild sort of panic. Throwing caution to the wind as a massive portion of ceiling caved in just to her left, she ignored the deceased man's trails she had been following and raced down the central tunnel.

However, the WEAPON was unprepared for what was probably the most serious shockwave yet, and was hurled off her feet by the sudden tremor. Scrambling to regain her footing, she did the only thing that any sane person would do.

"FUCK!"

With that panicked, borderline shrill shout, she put on a final burst of speed and bolted forwards and on to much more stable ground as the walls crumbled behind her.

Collapsing bonelessly on to the ground, Chaos noted, rather aimlessly, that this was the most interesting experience that she had had in _ages_. Heart ricocheting inside the walls of her chest and limbs burning in a liquid, almost pleasant way, she felt almost giddy from the rush generated by her near- death experience. Still shivering slightly and entangled in her cloak, a breathless snicker made its way from lungs that were still burning too badly to be of use. After a few moments of listening to the air whistling out of her lungs in those bubbling little gasps, Chaos propped her body against a nearby wall to wait out her little giggle- fit.

After she finally regained control of herself and her lungs filled with air, the noirette braced her hand on the rough floor and pushed in an attempt to regain her feet.

'Yeah,' she thought as she was suddenly swamped in dizziness, 'Bloody Cetra. Always interfering even after they're extinct.'

Chaos dropped to her rear in an attempt to keep her head from spinning, and pressed her head onto the cool material of the floor. Letting out an exhausted sigh, she allowed her eyes to close and body to flop.

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"Sir."

"What is it?"

". . . . ."

"Speak up, I don't have all day. Tell me what's happened this time."

". . . .The tracking device, the one that was attached to the scientist that's working with Hojo on the JENOVA project, we're not picking anything up. Basically it's either been disabled or he's dead."

". . . . . .Get me a meeting with the President."

"Sir? I thought you. . ."

"NOW!"

With that, Veld of the Turks turned on his heel and practically bolted from the room, leaving his Boss to ruminate over the unexpected turn of events in silence. Having been a Turk for a little over two years, the teenaged 'specialist' was aware of his superior officer's nasty temperament and penchant for throwing heavy items at his subordinates without warning or reason.

As he headed up the hall from the main office, he started considering what was so important about Grimoire Valentine that the Turks had to have him bugged. He had heard that it was an 'Order from the Top', which implied that the person who gave the instruction was either on the Board of Directors or higher, namely the President himself.

Either way, messy to become involved in and even more trouble to get out of.

He spared a moment to dip his head and smile at a passing superior, a thoroughly unpleasant young man named Heidegger. How he had managed to get himself the position of Director of Public Safety and Maintenance Department Veld would never know, but the young man suspected that more under the table dealings than actual competence at his job was involved in the appointment.

With a mental nod to himself to paste his musings directly into his brain, Veld pressed the up button on the elevator and settled back to wait for his ride and compile his speech to convince the President's secretary of the importance of his message.

Life as a rookie Turk.

Joy.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

The rookie, as he had done many times before in various places, stood silently outside the door to the President's office. He had been ordered to remain outside after delivering and arranging the meeting by the Head Turk, who had decided that he wanted one of his specially trained operatives outside to ensure the hastily arranged conference remained private. Upon hearing the declaration Veld only just managed to prevent himself from raising an eyebrow and laughing in the useless man's face.

'Specially trained?' Him? What was he smoking and where could the teen get some? That kind of designation was for the other Turks; the older ones who could kill a man with their ankles if needed.

After over five hours standing outside a locked door, the rookie was beginning to wish that he had, job be damned. He hadn't eaten at all that day, planning on getting lunch in the cafeteria during his break at one. At five thirty seven in the afternoon, the five men ensconced within the room didn't look like they were going to be leaving any time in the near future. Veld sighed heavily and jammed his hands more deeply into the deep pockets of his suit, intent on protecting them from the chill of the obviously overworked air- conditioning system, feeling a migraine coming on.

He shifted his weight to one foot and leant casually against the wall in an attempt to relieve the pressure on his sore legs. Failing at that, Veld tilted his head to the side and laid a cheek against the cool surface of the insulated plasterboard. The unyielding, chilly surface would do his head good; help to stave off the thankless throbbing and nausea that came hand in hand with the spontaneous mental assaults..

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Chaos trembled slightly beneath her heavy cloak, face creasing slightly in disgust as she woke from a long, memory- induced sleep. While her body was resting, the WEAPON had taken the time to run through the recollections that she had inherited from the deceased scientist and a lot of what she had seen disgusted her to the extreme.

She launched the coat off herself in a sudden fit of pique, unintentionally hurling it straight into a puddle of grainy water. Blinking, she took to her feet and moved to retrieve the item before it was ruined completely. Chaos let out a horrified groan as she hefted the now- sodden mass of fibres over her shoulder. Like all woollen products the inner lining of the coat had absorbed the brown liquid at a remarkable rate, ensuring that the garment weighed several times its own weight.

"Great. I'm trapped in a maze of caves, the world is dying and now my coat is soaked. I'd ask if anything else could go wrong, but if I do it probably will. Not that I want anything else to fuck up of course, that would be. . . . . . really bad."

At the last statement, the immortal's mind had drifted from the unfortunate plight of her coat to the interesting revelations about the ShinRa company's progressively horrific 'science' projects.

Though she was tempted to linger on images of cities larger than even the most grandiose of the Cetra's architecture, weaponry that dwarfed the technological capabilities of their ancestors and a plethora of different things that had been created in recent times, she did not. The memoirs were quickly filed away into the depths of her mind order to concentrate on the issues at hand.

One, ShinRa had figured out how to extract and refine what they called 'mako', which was actually a physical manifestation of the souls that resided inside the Lifestream. The extraction, while not immediately dangerous and cheaper to manufacture than traditional oil, coal and other types of more sustainable forms of energy, had the potential to literally suck the planet dry of life over time. However, she quickly decided that it wasn't really her problem at that point in time. It's wasn't like the effects were that hard to figure out as long as you weren't either a complete dumbass or a blockheaded fool.

Chaos was aware that the consequences of continuing to mine mako would eventually be devastating in both the short and long term, with issues about mutated monsters, decrease in fauna in a large radius around reactors and eventual pre and post- natal birth defects in both human and animal young. She also knew that the company- styled dictatorship would try to suppress any information and research on negative effects of mako reactors. She huffed in exasperation, almost unable to comprehend the sort of pigheaded stupidity that would drive a man to refuse proof that their planet was slowly being murdered.

The second and currently more pressing problem was the presence of the Calamity, dubbed JENOVA, within the corporation. She'd seen the horror that the extra- terrestrial virus was capable of, had herself been created as a failsafe to shepherd uninfected Lifestream through the stars to create a new, safer world in the event that the sky- born horror became impossible to contain. Birthed to waken her eldest sibling and usher both he and his precious cargo through the sky and towards a new beginning.

Gaia's decision to cease her attempts to completely annihilate JENOVA had never seemed like a good idea to any of her WEAPONs, but they had all abided by her choice and allowed her to scatter and guide them into dormant states deep beneath the ground. However, Chaos had vehemently disagreed with allowing such a dangerous entity to live.

Thus, being sealed in the mako pool in the Nibelheim mountain range.

The WEAPON hadn't been paying attention to where she had been walking during her lengthy musing session and yelped in startled indignity as her head collided with a low- hanging stone stalagmite.

She rubbed fiercely at her tender skull, letting loose a gush of obscenities more appropriate to a sailor than a lady. As Chaos' head slowly stopped throbbing and the torrent of words slowed to an occasional grumbling curse, she noted that the floor was much drier than it was in different areas of the cave. Sniffing tentatively at the air, she quickly noted that the damp, stale aroma that had pervaded other portions of the cave had reduced enough to seem all but non- existent.

Continuing forwards, the fresh scent grew stronger, further encouraging the immortal. After a few more minutes of walking she finally emerged, squinting, onto the snow- bright slopes of the Nibel Mountains.


End file.
